[deamanto]

>When your mind is holding items in working memory, that means that it has less space to focus and execute effectively on the main task at hand.

>Just writing things down gives some resolution of that task/thought so that we can fully show up for our main thing.

Anecdotal but there was a time in my life not too long ago where I found myself stressed out because I had so many life admin tasks to do but would also have to remember not only the task, but what I had to do, when I could do it, how far along it was. I was unable to sleep properly and day to day tasks were being affected.

It sounds so bloody simple in hindsight, but simply writing them into a kanban style app removed a lot of this stress. Every time I remembered I had to do something new I would just add it to the board. I also have issues with starting these tasks so while it's never going to be finished, at least the tasks are there and not in my brain

[tim-fan]

When I was relocating internationally, it was keeping track of the task dependency structure that stressed me out. After doing X and Y do Z.

I ended up jotting down the tasks/dependencies in dot syntax to quickly get items recorded and out of my mind during the day, then at the end of the day updated rendered the whole depency graph to give the overview.

Here's the scripts I used

https://github.com/tim-fan/task_dependency_tracking_tool

[temporallobe]

I had a similar problem. I now maintain a simple TODO note on my phone and organize the items by priority sections (Now, Soon, and Eventually). I check off the items once I’m done and remove them after a while. This does a few things:

  - Relieves the stress of having to remember random stuff that comes up during the day
  - Allows me prioritize my worries… the “Eventually” category usually consists of lower-priority things that would have low impact if I didn’t get them done soon (or at all in some cases)
  - Gives me a sense of accomplishment when I check off an item

I like this better than the iOS Reminders app since I have more control over various things (with a huge disadvantage of it not being time/date-aware.

[hb0ss]

I use a similar method, but implemented in iOS reminders. I have different lists for the different categories. And now with a smart list I have created a category/list "this week" that lists actionable items with a due date within the next 7-days. [1] This is loosely based on GTD [2]

[1] https://www.macintoshhowto.com/gtd/gtd-with-apple-reminders.... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

[Mgkvis]

May I ask what the app name is? I'm struggling to find something that works for me, and this seems to be kind of what I'm looking for.

[wanderingmind]

Try orgzly. Its org-mode based and can be customized to individual requirements

[neilv]

For work, I love Kanban and Gantt, depending.

For personal tasks (not work), I use a todo list that emphasizes not having the task in view if I've decided it's not a candidate to do that day. (Such as by using the Start Date feature of some tools.)

I also try to cull the candidate tasks for the next day on the night before, bumping tasks so that I won't see them and have to consider them the next morning, wasting fresh brain.

I'm good at multi-tasking, but there's noticeable costs to that, so I try not to do it unnecessarily.

[kaetemi]

I've just got a tiny notebook currently with one task per page in big marker, for all those random one-off things to do. Just flip it to the task that needs to get done, and nothing else in sight.

[neilv]

How do you decide which task to do next? (Do you have to look at many tasks, and load enough of each task context into your brain to decide whether to do that one?)

[kaetemi]

The one that's written in the biggest letters.